Kazuma Kobori birdied the final four holes of his second round to claim a one-shot clubhouse lead at the BMW Australian PGA Championship before play was suspended due to fading light.
The New Zealander, who is full of confidence after his rookie DP World Tour campaign culminated in him reaching the DP World Tour Championship earlier this month, carded nine birdies and a solitary bogey in an eight under-under-par 63 to reach ten under through his opening 36 holes.
Australian pair Anthony Quayle and Brett Rankin along with China’s Wenyi Ding are one shot adrift heading into the weekend at Royal Queensland GC.
After the opening day was halted by lightning, seven groups will resume at 6am local time on Saturday to complete their second round with the cut projected to fall at two under.
It was a day of low scoring in breezy but sunny conditions in Brisbane, with first-round leader Sebastian Garcia the only player in the top 30 on the leaderboard at the end of play to be over par for his second round.
Kobori, who made a hole-in-one in an opening 69 on Thursday, made a pair of back-to-back birdies on his front nine, initially at the second and third before closing out his front nine with gains at the eighth and ninth.
A fifth birdie of the round soon followed at the 12th, and while he dropped a shot at the 14th for the second day in a row, the 24-year-old responded in fine fashion as his putter continuously served him well down the stretch.
"I am pretty happy for the most part," he said.
"Yesterday was a bit frustrating. I had a hole-in-one but didn't do much a part from that but I made up for that today which was good.
"The wind dropped off quite nicely so I knew coming in, 15, 16 and 17 were quite good opportunities because I knew I had wedges in my hands so I hit a few close and was able to birdie 18 as well which was a nice bonus."
Kobori finished runner-up at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo in August, adding a further two top tens across his debut DP World Tour campaign as he finished 44th on the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Of his experiences along the way during the year, he highlighted playing alongside Robert MacIntyre at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship earlier this month as being influential in providing a stimulus for him to kick on this season.
"Moving forward I want my standards to be what he does," he said.
"Try to be a bit harder on myself with the good shots and bad shots so that was a great learning experience and moving forward I know what is required to perform at that level."
Quayle, who earned his DP World Tour playing privileges for this season through the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit earlier this year, mixed six birdies with one bogey in a 66.
That total was matched shortly later by Ding as last year's GAP Rankings winner showed his undoubted talent to also reach nine under.
Rankin had earlier held the clubhouse lead for much of the day after the 39-year-old home hope followed up his first-round 64 with a 69, which included a double bogey at the par-three 17th.
Min Woo Lee, the 2023 BMW PGA Championship winner, headlines a quartet of players two shots back at eight under, alongside Portugal's Ricardo Gouveia, France's Tom Vaillant and countryman Christoper Wood after a 66.
Defending champion Elvis Smylie is set to make the cut on the number after a battling level-par 71 that included four birdies and as many bogeys, but two-time Australian PGA Championship winner Cam Smith will miss the weekend after a 75.
